From the blog, Singapore Uncle trader:
On the topic of dirty money, a rather disturbing series of stories kept cropping up about Singapore’s close ties with the Myanmar junta. Back in October 2007, Singapore’s PM denied accusations that it is a money-laundering centre for the Burmese junta.
This issue was raised just a couple of days ago, this time by Earth Rights International, that the generals had transferred almost US$5B into two Singapore banks.
Whatever the case may be, Singapore has to strike the right balancing act. Comply too quickly with transparency requirements, and lose billions. Don’t comply, and risk being branded a tax pariah – and targeted for punitive action – by increasingly strident socialist governments …
Read the full write-up on Singapore Uncle Trader.
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Oh btw GMR, History 101 again! As yesterday post was done at 1+am…lol
Tomoyuki Yamashita was transfered to Manchuria in 1942, 5 months after Malaya and Singapore was captured….and after that was stationed in the Philippines in 1944
“On 15 February when Yamashita heard of the massacre in the Hospital, he went round the beds of the remaining patients and saluted them; he apologized profusely for the shocking conduct of his soldiers. He brought some crates of canned fruits and opened them with his bayonet and served the fruit to the patients.
Later when he learnt that some Japanese soldiers were looting the Hospital he ordered them to be executed. ”
So even though japanese did commit atrocities, you may be accusing the wrong man for all of it…as that example shows that he is willing to deal harshly with enemies and spies, but not injured patients.
Singapore govt may be laundering their dirty money somewhere else. So corrupt govt all over the world are helping one another.
#42 Yeo Kwang Kwang “Can we Assess What We Dont KNOW?”
Would having a stronger opposition voice in the house help at all?
Singapore government or for that matter better known as the PAP prides itself on being corruption free. So why not be transparent and let he world know if they are a haven for the millions billions of foreign governments and their heads of states.
The PAP likes to sue so if its not true then sue these people whos say you allow others to dump thier wealth in our banks and our country. Is your integrity not at stake or are is the government hiding the truth.
Let sue if you feel that lies are been said. So the people the u are transparent.
32) Yamamoto
Agree with you.
Strength also the weakest link.
Just wondering ….
Where do our ministers and their relatives keep their money ? It would easily exceed ten million per term of office, per minister.
Do they bank in Singapore ? Overseas ?
This may sound irrelevant, but I think the answer may reflect the mentality of the people running this country on this topic under discussion.
57) I wonder on September 30th, 2009 8.55 pm Just wondering ….
Where do our ministers and their relatives keep their money ? It would easily exceed ten million per term of office, per minister
It’s illegal to check on them so how can you know where they stashed away their millions.
[i]Where do our ministers and their relatives keep their money ? It would easily exceed ten million per term of office, per minister[/i]
try the banks of south africa..diamonds farmin…can be withdrawn in diamonds instead of ca$h…
Personally I think its speak volume. The PAP regime had lost its moral, integrity and now it is a party of money. Regardless how that money is obstained either through corruption or pure plundering the country national treasury , all are welcome. We could see more money coming into the country from corrupt African leaders soon as well. It is in PAP interest to see the Sinkapore dollar strong so that the ministers could buy second and third homes overseas in Australia, New Zealand, UK and USA. If they are not careful, Sinkapore could end up classed as a corrupt and patriarch, money laundering heaven. We Sinkaporean will suffered as well as our passport will not carry the same high esteem its currently enjoyed. One wonder what is their objectives? Are they preparing to abandon the country and just to made sure which ever opposition took power will not be able to clean it up in one term? So they will have all the reasons to come back again to have round two of plundering the natinal treasury. LKY is a long term planner remember puting in place judges, police chief etc that the opposition party if they won the election will not easily replace these key personnel. Another uniquely Sinkapore feature?
How low will Singkapore sink? Its seems it is still sinking and will continue to sink as the captain is totally quiet or shall I say oblivious.
47) Yamamoto on September 29th, 2009 1.39 am Ghim Moh resident,
Well, Btw, I hate to say this, GMR, but before you comment and link my nick to a war criminal, you need to get your facts right *as usual* .that Japanese General you are talking about is the Tiger of Malaya, Tomoyuki Yamashita, not Yamamoto. Yamashita(山下) is not equal to Yamamoto (山本). Understand? And I request for an apology as you are very inconsiderate to link me to a war criminal.
Asking me to apologize is like you pouring hot water on someone and ask that person to apologize. Look at the earlier comments and see who should apologize.
Bye for now.
Aligato Gozai Arimasu
62) Ghim Moh resident
My friend, I empathise with you. So many missiles targetted at you. The fact that you got such a voilent respond shows that what you said in post#1 carries a lot of water.
If it is any confort to you at all, I am also a favourite target when I write truths that are too painful for the eyes to read. You see less of what I write now, not because I do not write, you can guess why. It start with letter m.
63) KopitiamApek on October 4th, 2009 8.43 pm
We can still write here. this site is just one of the many sources of information we should read at be it Strait Times, Online Citizen, Business Times, CNN, Google Finance, Youtube, books and etc etc.
Just have a clear mind of view and we will learn alot about the world.
64) Ghim Moh resident
You are absolutely correct about open mind and learning about the world.
In my short spell in TOC, I observe the when given the liberty of unrestrained free speech (in this case in the written form) people do write the most amazing things and form the most amazing perceptions and conclusions. Groupthink is rampant, and it feeds on itself, aggrandising even the most trival comments to are in sync and demolising those that are not.
What is Groupthink?
Groupthink occurs when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment”. Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups. A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its members are similar in background, when the group is insulated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making.
Symptoms of Groupthink
Illusion of invulnerability –Creates excessive optimism that encourages taking extreme risks.
Collective rationalization – Members discount warnings and do not reconsider their assumptions.
Belief in inherent morality – Members believe in the rightness of their cause and therefore ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions.
Stereotyped views of out-groups – Negative views of “enemy” make effective responses to conflict seem unnecessary.
Direct pressure on dissenters – Members are under pressure not to express arguments against any of the group’s views.
Self-censorship – Doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus are not expressed.
Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed to be unanimous.
Self-appointed ‘mindguards’ – Members protect the group and the leader from information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions.
When the above symptoms exist in a group that is trying to make a decision, there is a reasonable chance that groupthink will happen, although it is not necessarily so. Groupthink occurs when groups are highly cohesive and when they are under considerable pressure to make a quality decision. When pressures for unanimity seem overwhelming, members are less motivated to realistically appraise the alternative courses of action available to them. These group pressures lead to carelessness and irrational thinking since groups experiencing groupthink fail to consider all alternatives and seek to maintain unanimity. Decisions shaped by groupthink have low probability of achieving successful outcomes.
Remedies for Groupthink include openly allow “non sync” views that serves as a devil’s advocate to alleviate the ongoing groupthink,.
Ah Ghim Moh, look and see…did any of us ever tries to link you with a War Criminal…you should see the past comment for yourself again…we only criticize while someone will take it upon himself and go out of context linking people to Class B war criminal…the first is criticizing, while the other person starts screaming ” you are a %^&* cheater who murder my ^&*^$” kabish? Anyway, you sure you want to use japanese? it should be written as Arigatou gozaimasu, not Aligato Gozai Arimasu
as for Apek, hey, i enjoy your comment…it is constructive, and reading it helps to maintain perspective…and I for one, won’t call you a 1-sided person as i have seen both side of your comment.
In any discussion, both sides of the coin should be welcomed. Through debate, one can come to his own conclusions after seeing both sides of the argument.
Anyway on the point about TOC…well, it is impossible to ever get an objective view on anything anyway. The moment something comes out of your mouth, it has already been “tainted” by whatever hidden bias you may have. But the beauty of the internet is there are people like the KopitiamApek who will provide alternate and opposing views. After all, issues are rarely black and white.
Anyway, GMR, you should give more comprehensive answers to the arguments the others have raised (I don’t think there were any ad hominem attacks so far?). I mean, asking people to “feel it” (That TOC is one-sided) isn’t going to work as an actual argument. And really, Yamamato sounds like a rather common Japanese name…
67) Yamamoto
68) Morvius
Thank you.
Is this my lucky day or what? : )
Dear kopithiamAhPek
There is nothing to be lucky about. In actual fact, a lot of people in TOC are capable of knowing what is right and wrong. Chinese has a saying 庸人自扰 (silly people tends to look for trouble itself).
Assuming your groupthink is right, question is which group it is? The people that support PAP or the people that hate PAP. To be frank, if one day PAP were to like what most of the people here had believe, turn this island into a shitty country. I don’t think any of those people will feel great about getting it right.
GMR instead of explaining it or reason it properly, he act like children using words to abuse and even call people nameS. I don’t think your comment does really help in this case, instead you provoke him to go a little bit further. So who is groupthink in this instances?
70) RED-man
///Assuming your groupthink is right, question is which group it is?////
I am not the owner of the concept of groupthink. I did not invent it.
If you dig deeper into the concept, you would know that your question is also your answer.
27/10/09
This is real and allow me to write ie my former only brother -I cut all ties,the richest man in Penang who also has a Master degree from NUS, is a member of international drugs syndicate, park tens of millions of his drugs monies in Singapore and my mum once told me that he has strong cables in Singapore and no one is able to touch him (same in Penang where all the government agencies are on his payroll). Both my parents are very proud of him and my mum was the first to know that he made his money all are illegal from Drugs when confronted by my dad a retired Associate Professor in Unversiti Sains Malaysia, Penang-School of Physics. Finally both also kow tow to him except myself who is solely a Singaporean despite his threats which included getting the Malaysia Police to take me into the dreaded Internal Security Act-ISA and Sedition Act. I was not afraid as I am a proud Singaporean and still fighting him-just last week, the Malaysian Income Tax whacked him again and he confronted my mum and I don’t rule out that he is all out to get me now.
Being Singaporean, we must continue to support the Death Penalty for Drugs Traffickers and Drugs Bosses like him and others especially who have invested tens of millions in Singapore, and bring them to justice.
Regards
Andrew Chuah